What's on your Runner's / Thrower's / Jumper's Christmas list this year?
We asked that exact question on the MileSplit Mississippi Instagram (@msmilesplit). While this list may have been a bit more helpful about a week ago for any friends or family that have the gift of having a cross country/track and field athlete in their life, maybe we can give you some ideas for next year, or even some last-minute gifts for this year!
Here are some of the most popular answers that we got:
*This article is not an endorsement of any certain brand or product. All of these responses were word-for-word submitted by the user.*
Foam Rollers
Submitted by: Charlee Brees Franks (@charlee_brees_franks)
Foam rollers are an essential recovery tool for all runners and come in all shapes and sizes. If you want to, you can go all out and head over to roll recovery and get some that are more on the high-end that will give you an entire low-body massage! But for the most part, they are pretty cheap.
Recovery Sandals
Submitted by: @leslie.k.webber
Birkenstocks, Oofos, Hoka One One's Oras... Just take your pick. Almost nothing feels better than slipping on some recovery slides/sandals after a hard workout.
Spikes
Chris Bell (619) of Starkville High submitted his answer of the Nike Dragonflies.
The most popular answer we got by far was of course what we lace up so that we can hit our PR's, and that was spikes! The only brand spike that was actually specified was the Nike Dragonflies, and I think I'm spotting a few in the picture above. While I'm not in any way endorsing the Nike Dragonfly, it is definitely one of the more popular spikes for distance runners. I also got a trainer request in the form of Nike Pegasus from ___
Running Apparel
Submitted by: Mia Dawson (@mdawsss), Noah Mason (@noahcmason27), @browncandise
This is a tricky one, as you need to be prepared for anything and everything in this bipolar Mississippi weather. We got all kinds of submissions here, from running gloves, shirts, and shorts.
Personally, I enjoy cotton running gloves and light dry-fit athletic shirts, and I have also found a liking towards half tights as they are dynamic in almost any kind of weather.
Running Watches
Submitted by: @paigemwaller, @tim_whitlock_kelly, @urmomjanella
Another essential for distance runners is the GPS Watch - How else are you going to log all of those miles onto Strava??
Seriously though, running watches are very useful in today's day and age. Garmin basically has stolen the show in that market as they are the most popular and affordable, but you do have the more advanced watches such as the Coros Watch or even the Whoop app, which can basically tell you how much strain you have put on your body the previous day and how recovered you are to do the next workout!
A Free Premium MileSplit Subscription!!
Submitted by: Ben Thompson, the MileSplit Tennessee State Editor (@milesplit_tn)
While I'm not going to make this article an advertisement, a premium subscription is a very nice thing to have so you can look at rankings, race videos, photos, and they are especially great if you're a big stats guy like me.
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'Funny Answers'
Free Endurance - Submitted by Christian Balcer (@christian.balcer)
If you ask me, Christian Balcer has all the endurance he needs and probably needs to share some of his with the rest of us.
Donuts - Submitted by Justin Graves (@preacherjgraves)
Absolutely nothing to argue with here. There is nothing better than a couple of blueberry cake donuts after a hard long run.
A free pedicure - Submitted by Julia Littlejohn (@julia_wlj)
First of all... this family gives the best answers! Here is a prime example from Julia's sister, Lucy Littlejohn:
Love it!! I can also personally attest that a free pedicure would be very nice to some of our distance runners out there.
